two was the Harkonrten's insistence on viewing Arrakis as a hellhole, fit only for producing its pnceless spice and helping to keep its native workforce subdued Kynes on the other hand ARRAKIS ECOLOGY 28 ARRAKIS ECOLOGY soon became caught up m a vision he be came more and more convinced with each new study he conducted that Arrakis could be transformed into a gentler world, one on which humans could live without the constant threat of death from thirst haunting them By 10151, he had decided that only the Fremen, already capable of meeting the de sert on its own terms could possibly help him implement his scheme In addition to their own innate ecological sense the Fremen were the only people on Arrakis who did not bow m terror to the Harko&nens They paid no fai no water tribute, to the tyrants, and they were not above guiltlessly killing any outsiders foolish enough to invade their privacy He would convert the Fremen, Kynes decided, as soon as the opportunity Co enter one of their sietches presented itself In the spring of that same year, on a rare walking excursion without his Harkonnen guards, Kynes stumbled upon his entree Behind the section of the Shield Wall nearest the village of Wmdsack, he found half a dozen fully armed and shielded Harkonnen bullies toying with three Fremen youths, evidently planning to kill them leisurely, for sport Kynes waded into the fray and killed two of the Harkonnen men with a slip-tip before anyone was aware he had joined the battle By this time, the Fremen had downed two of the bullies on their own, but one of the youths was down as well, with a severed artery Kynes dispatched one more Harkonnen, then, leaving the single survivor to his fate at the hands of the two Fremen, gave the third boy the medical attention he needed To the youths, not yet experienced in the ways of brutal necessity, the Geologist repre sented a water burden they did not know bow to repay Confused, they took Kynes back with them to their unnamed sietch overlooking Wind Pass Let the elders decide what was to be done with this most uncom-moa Imperial servant1 Once in the sietch, Kynes felt himself completely in his element He lectured the amazed Piemen on a number of subjects- the best ways of anchoring dunes with grass, with fruit-beanag trees might best be planted m the resulting greenbelts, pros and cons of qanat (open trench) irrigation-but always returned to one magic topic water The Fremen listened even as they debated what to do with this insane stranger who had saved three of their number, and marvelled at his complete disregard for his own safety Kynes was clearly admired by most of the troop, and it was for that reason that his death sentence was delivered with a touch of regret Still, the security of the sietch over rode all other considerations and Uliet one of the troop s most experienced fighters was sent with a consecrated knife to carry out the sentence Two watermen followed him pre pared to release the intruder s water for use by the sietch It was an efficiency of which Kynes might have approved, had he taken time out from his lecturing to pay attention As it was the ecologist merely paused between sentences when Uliet approached ' Remove yourself he told his appointed executioner, then turned leaving his back open Uliet hesitated and in that moment of hesitation, made a decision mat would change the destiny of his people Instead of striking the ecologist he took three steps and fell on his crjsknife, 'removing' himself as ordered The stunned watermen earned him off to the deathstill, and Kynes continued his lecture as if nothing had occurred Not one member of the troop entertained the notion of questioning such an obvious message from Shai-Hulud Kjnes was meant to lead them they, to follow him Beginning with a one kilometer square area located m the deep desert (around 40 south latitude) Kynes ordered that the tribes begin the work of settling into the hitherto-uninhabited region The first tribe sent out died, almost in its entirety, leaving only a pair of messengers to report back Kynes listened to them, took careful notes and sent out another group this one better prepared Numbering one hundred fifty on departing for the south, the tnbq was reduced by half within the first six months But the settlement was established Kynes, during this time, was not idle Under the unsuspecting noses of his Harkonnen overseers he smuggled desert Fremen into his Biological Testing Stations The Fremen ARRAK1S ECOLOGY ARRAKIS ECOLOGY studied, conducted tests, took tools and equipment back to their sietches with them for use in setting up hidden wmdtraps and water basins With agonizing slowness, the basins began to fill, the water gleaned from the air being supplemented by that from the death stills With the sole exception of combat water, which by Fremen law belonged to the victor of a hand-to-hand fight, all water obtained by the sietches found its way into one of these basins No Fremen would dnnk of it, no matter his extremity, on pain of losing his soul It was the Water of Paradise, sacred beyond words The Harkonnens knew nothing of Kynes's plan, nor of his Fremen Behind the ecology's back, jokes were made about his pleasure m associating with the ' desert scum"-jokes which became even more vicious when it was discovered that he had taken Mitha.